Improvement in washing-machines



I. BALLARD.

Washing-Machines.

NO# `137,046. Y f PatentedMarch 25,1873.

UNITED STATES' PATENT GFFIcn.

JAMES BALLARD, OF ALMONT, MICHIGAN.

IMPROVEMNT IN WASHING-MACHINES.

' Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 137,046, dated March. 25, 187 B.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES BALLARD, of Almont, in the county of Lapeer and State of Michigan, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Washing-Machines; and I do declare that the following is a true and accurate description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawing and to the letters of reference marked thereon and being a part of this specification, in which- My invention is shown in perspective from the top, with a portion o f the side broken out.

The nature of this invention relates to an improved construction of washing-machines, wherein is used a reciprocating wash-board; and it consists in the peculiar construction and arrangement of a wash-board, secured to the lower ends of reciprocating standards, the upper ends of which are provided with guiderods, which play through a rock-shaft suitably journaled in standards rising from the washbox, and in the levers for operating them achine, as is more fully hereinafter set forth.

In the drawing, A represents the wash-box of my machine, mounted on suitable legs B. C is a series of rollers, journaled at their ends in the side pieces a connecting these pieces a together are wooden rods b, which serve the purpose of keeping the pieces c at a proper distance apart, so that the rollers C may ffeely rotate in their bearings. vThese rollers C and the pieces c are placed in the bottom of the box A, being held in-position by the rigid stops D and the eccentric buttons E. F is a rOckshaft, jouw naled in the upper ends of the standards Gr, which rise from the sides of the box. H are two reciprocating standards, the upper ends of which are provided with guide-rods I, which pass through holes e in the rock-shaft; to the lower ends of the standards is secured a wash or rub board, J which is corrugated on its under face. In the standards are slots f, through which are pivoted the hand-levers K; to the short arm of these levers are pivoted one end of the hanging fulcrums L, their other ends being pivoted to the journals of the rockshaft, as at g.

It will be seen that by constructing a washing-machine in this manner there will be no difculty in adjusting it to wash fabrics that may be of varying thicknesses, as by raising or depressing the hand-levers K the rubboard will be also raised or depressed, by reason of the reciprocating motion of the guides of the standards through the rock-shaft. The rollers G are arranged on the are of a circle, of which the rock-shaft is the center.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

The combination of the lever K with the rub-board J, reciprocating standards H with guide-rods I, hanging fulcrums L, and rockshat't F, as described.

JAMES BALLARD. Witnesses:

H. S. SPRAGUE, OHAs. J. HUNT. 

